


Worry, curse, scream

by deutschistklasse



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Gen, Missing Scene, Not Canon Compliant, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series, Spirits, What-If, fire spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:48:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27453754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deutschistklasse/pseuds/deutschistklasse
Summary: Jee wants to resign. Or at least let him scream in peace. Why does he need to play the role of nanny and bodyguard for the Fire Prince? - Aka spirit encounters are more dangerous when your boss is a hotheaded fifteen-year-old royal brat.
Relationships: Jee & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 67





	Worry, curse, scream

Jee wanted to take a page out of Prince Zuko’s book and scream incoherently, but he couldn’t do so if he didn’t want to lose the respect of the crew. He wasn’t a spoiled teenager like the prince. So he just gritted his teeth, and quietly ordered the men back to the ship. He stayed with the prince, glaring at his back. At least his hands weren’t smoking.

Jee considered himself a patient man, mostly, but he felt his blood boil almost constantly in front of the royal brat’s arrogance. Prince Zuko endangered his crew weekly with his harebrained plans. This time they had luck, the spirit was more playful than anything, and nobody was injured severely, but who could know, what would happen next time? When would somebody die for the prince’s delusions?

He sighed. This whole search for the Avatar was pointless, everybody knew it, the prince was just too stubborn to admit it. More than stubborn, actually. He built a wall around himself, shutting out everyone and everything apart from his mission. Nothing reached him, neither General Iroh’s kindness nor the crew’s suffering or displeasure.

Jee was loyal to the Fire Lord, but sometimes he wanted to mutiny and throw the brat overboard or just shake him out of his stupidity, like now. Jee breathed quietly, meditatively, reining in his violent thoughts. The prince was just fifteen, he could change. Jee hoped so. If not, the future was very sad.

He cleared his throat, swallowing his anger. It was considered bad manners to yell at a member of the royal family.

„Prince Zuko, we need to go back. In about an hour the sun will go down, and we are far away from the shore. This part of the forest is dangerous at night. We don’t want to wander away from the path. Swamp forests are tricky even in daylight.”

„Don’t tell me what I’m supposed to do, Lieutenant! If you are worrying so much, you can go. I will stay and capture that spirit. I want answers!”

It was always the same spiel. Capture this, follow that, chase a rumor till the end of the world, just to return crestfallen or angry. Jee watched the prince with disapproval in his eyes and pity in his heart. He tried again.

„It’s almost dark. Sir, we can pursue the spirit tomorrow, when we see where we step.”

„We are firebenders! Or have you forgotten it? The dark isn’t an obstacle.”

„Prince Zuko, please, just return with me to the ship. We all need to rest.”

„I don’t have time to rest! Nothing is more important than capturing the Avatar!”

„Why? Why is chasing a legend more important than your health, or the crew’s well-being?”

Jee wouldn’t contain his incredulity and despair anymore. He was exhausted, they were since dawn searching the forest for the guardian spirit, and then surviving its riddles and conjured wolf-bears. If the prince wanted his help, he needed to explain this.

He saw the fire ignite in the royal brat’s eyes and his hands shake in fury, and he prepared himself for an attack, or at least a verbal lashing, but the prince didn’t have time for any of it. At this moment a bluish light surrounded them. It circled them as if inspecting them, then took the form of a tiny rhythmically pulsing fire, bopped the prince, and darted away, leaving sparks in its wake. With a cry, Prince Zuko stomped after it before Jee could warn him. That thing was dangerous, luring their unsuspecting victim into death.

He followed the prince and tried not to curse. He needed to protect the prince from the fen fire, and if possible, from himself. He didn’t have a choice if he didn’t want to draw General Iroh’s anger on himself. And anyway, the prince was just a teenager, he didn’t deserve to die.

Of course, he was unsuccessful. The prince shouted and threw fireballs at the wisp when it didn’t stop on command. They were deeper now in the forest, the trees obscuring the sky, and their boots were sinking deep into the mud. The fen fire was bigger, hotter, more menacing. It took the vague form of a woman. Jee was petrified. There was no path, no escape anymore.

Prince Zuko whimpered something like _Mom_ and took a step forward. Jee didn’t have time to think, he just acted. He sprang at the prince and yanked him away. It left the brat confused, but otherwise unharmed. The woman’s inviting smile faded.

He pulled the unresisting prince with him, as he tried to find his way back to the path through the forest. The wisp followed after them. They were in its domain, it wasn’t ready to just let them go away. Jee threw a fireball at the fen fire. It connected, but it didn’t harm the thing.

Jee tried to remember his mother’s tales about the fen fires. What were their weaknesses again? A rooster’s crow, sealing them in a tree hollow, giving them an impossible task to complete, or some magic words? It varied from story to story. Anyway, they didn’t have a rooster, didn’t know how to seal a malevolent being, didn’t know what could be impossible for it and they didn’t know any magic words. They needed to get away, now.

After a while, the fen fire lost the form of the woman, and the prince recovered too as if emerging from under deep water. He yanked himself out of Jee’s grip and cursed loudly. It was impressive, Jee didn’t know the brat learned anything from the crew. It was a pity, he didn’t learn something more worthy of a prince.

But the wisp flinched and fled. Wait, _what_? He stared dumbfounded after the fleeing fen fire. Was its weakness _swearing_? The magic words were _curses_? The prince’s tired, but distinctly grumpy voice woke him up from his musings.

„Come on, Lieutenant. We need to go back. My Uncle will be insufferable if we spend the night in the forest.”

Jee marched after the prince fuming. Couldn’t he think about his uncle half an hour ago, before they lost their way? Sometimes he really wanted to cuff the royal brat, maybe then he would think before he leaped headfirst in danger.

He breathed quietly, meditatively through the two hours long track to the ship, through the disappointing admonishment of General Iroh, through his way to his cabin. But in his room, he screamed. It felt good.

**Author's Note:**

> I worked in the fic some East-Central European folklore, with the fen fire/ wisps and their weaknesses. The original name didn't translate well in English, but they are similar beings.  
> I think these things could integrate really well with Fire Nation folklore, as some fire spirits. In my region, they are mostly malevolent beings of fire, but they can have other forms too. Sometimes they are the lost souls of sinners, sometimes they are miracle chicken hatched from the first egg of a black hen kept warm under the arm of a human. They can take the form of fire or people and can lure the victims into their death or can serve them and make them rich, in exchange for their life force or soul. They are dangerous, but not always deathly.  
> So, I wanted to experiment with it a bit. I hope you can enjoy it.  
> Have a nice day! :)


End file.
